Products in blister packaging or other packaging often are displayed on racks having a number of horizontally projecting pegs in various types of retail outlets such as department stores, sporting goods stores, automotive supply stores, hardware stores, drugstores and grocery stores. Each peg carries an individual type of product by placing the peg through a hole in the packaging. Usually the pegs are spaced as closely as possible to maximize the utilization of valuable retail space. Certain types of perishable stock such as meats, cheeses and vegetables must be rotated and sold on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis to reduce the amount of stock that perishes before it is sold.
One method of rotating stock is to remove the existing inventory from a peg, load the new inventory on the back of the peg, and then re-load the existing inventory on the peg. This method is costly not only because it is labor intensive, but also because it is tedious work and many stock persons simply load the new inventory on the front of the peg. Accordingly, the existing inventory often perishes on the back of the peg. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a peg in which the inventory may be rotated without removing existing inventory, and which may be spaced as closely as possibly to other pegs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,413 discloses a device for displaying packages having a peg support with a front hole and a back hole, the peg support being attached to a wall or the like; the peg has a body, a rear toe and a bottom flat engageable with the keyhole. The peg is attached to the peg support by reaching from the front of the pegs to the peg support attached to wall behind all of the products, and then threading the rear toe of the peg through the front hole and into the back hole. The peg is removed from the peg support by lifting the front of the peg and pulling the rear toe out of the back hole. New inventory may be placed on the back of the peg without having to remove the existing inventory by removing the peg from the peg support, loading the new inventory on the back of the peg, and then attaching the peg to the peg support. This system can be difficult to utilize, however, when the product packages are spaced closely together, particularly if there are many packages on a single peg-stock personnel can have a difficult time threading the rear toe into the rear hole, since adjacent packages tend to obstruct one's view. Also, the system requires vertically adjacent packages to be spaced from one another a sufficient distance so as to allow the front end of the peg to be lifted enough to disengage it from the rear hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,727 discloses a device for shipping, storing and racking packages that hang on pegs on display racks. The device includes a number of packages on a storage/transfer member within a container. An opening is provided along the longitudinal axis of the storage/transfer member to permit the member to be slid over a display rack peg. A group of packages are deposited on a peg by sliding the storage/transfer member over the peg, then holding the packages on the peg as the member is slid off of the peg. Conversely, a group of packages is removed from the peg by sliding the storage/transfer member over the peg and through the holes in the packages, raising a box or magazine up to the packages to support the packages and storage/transfer member, and then sliding the storage/transfer member off of the peg. The peg and storage/transfer member do not lock together, so the storage/transfer member typically has to be removed after it is installed to prevent the storage/transfer member from sliding off of the peg as consumers remove individual packages from the peg. The system is thus somewhat cumbersome to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,293 discloses a rack mounting device in which a number of packages may be loaded onto a peg in a single operation. The device includes a tube extending through the holes of a stack of products, and a rubber band for holding the stack onto the tube. The stack of products is loaded onto a peg by placing the tube over the front of the peg, releasing the rubber band, and then sliding the packages over the tube and onto the peg.
These and other proposed systems are typically cumbersome to utilize particularly when packages are closely spaced, and particularly if many heavy packages are held on a single peg. Thus, there is a need for a peg racking system that provides a convenient, easy-to-operate device in which new inventory may be added to a peg behind the existing inventory so that the inventory is sold on a FIFO basis.